Streetsboro man gets 3 years in prison for 2013 Brimfield robbery

A Streetsboro man who held up a Brimfield convenience store at knifepoint in November 2013 has been sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to a felony robbery charge.

Kevin M. Kowalski, 22, was sentenced by Portage County Common Pleas Judge John Enlow on Feb. 18. He pleaded guilty to robbery, a second-degree felony, in January and faced up to eight years behind bars.

Enlow gave Kowalski credit for 103 days already served in the Portage County jail awaiting trial, and ordered him to pay $214 in court costs, according to his sentencing order.

Brimfield police arrested Kowalski five minutes after the Nov. 7, 2013, robbery at the Circle K convenience store at 1345 Tallmadge Road, Police Chief David Oliver said at the time.

Oliver said Kowalski entered the store wearing a mask and brandishing a silver knife. He threatened the clerk and made off with $100 in cash and two cartons of cigarettes.

Armed with the clerk's description of the robber, responding officers found Kowalski sitting in a van parked at a nearby business soon after the robbery. Oliver said when officers asked to see Kowalski's hands, he jumped out of the van yelling "I didn't do nothin'," dropping the knife and stolen money in the process.